Comics
‘Venom’ Almost Opened On an Entire Planet of Symbiotes!
Spoilers, as we look back as Columbia Pictures’ Venom, which opens with a ship crashing to Earth. On it are several symbiotes that we later learn were plucked from a passing comet. A planet of symbiotes, if you will. Unlike in the comics, the feature film adaptation gives each symbiote its own personality; Venom is an alien known as Venom and Riot is the same. Initially, the screenplay had opened on said comet, although director Ruben Fleischer felt it would be more entertaining left to the imagination and leaving things more mysterious.
“The beginning of the movie was a hard one. Like, how much do we want to tell the backstory?,” he explained to Cinemablend.
“There was a version [of the opening] where there was a planet crawling with tons of symbiotes that were collected and taken back to Earth by the Life Foundation.
“They had encountered them. But it kind of felt like, my instinct was it would be better to keep it more mysterious and just know that they’ve retrieved something from space. We don’t know exactly by what means or how. Jenny [Slate]‘s character later says they encountered it on a comet that was passing, and they retrieved these samples and brought it back to Earth. But yeah, I thought it was better just leave it a little bit mysterious, the backstory of the aliens.”
Venom producer Matt Tolmach confirmed they even worked on some concept art for the symbiote planet:
“We toyed with some artwork that we loved. … We toyed with it.
“But we wanted the movie — it’s out there. It’s part of our mythology. It’s part of our backstory, Klyntar and where this all came from and who knows what’s next. But, it made sense to, in this movie, to let the origin of those things kind of unravel in the storytelling is as opposed to going [to that planet].”
Who knows, maybe we’ll see this planet in a future film now that a sequel is all but happening. Still, I like the idea that Carnage (Woody Harrelson) is some sort of symbiote offshoot and not an existing alien entity as explained in the opening paragraph. You?
Comics
‘Curse of the Where Wolf’ Bites Into August Release With Trio of Werewolf Theatrical Screenings [Exclusive Preview]
Larry Chaney‘s hairy misadventures are continuing in the sequel graphic novel Curse of the Where Wolf from creative team Rob Saucedo, Debora Lancianese, and Jack Morelli, and its author is celebrating with a trio of horror’s greatest werewolf films.
The Curse of the Where Wolf hits shelves on August 7 from Encyclopocalypse Publications.
That coincides with the launch of a theatrical screening event in Houston, Texas, featuring a trio of seminal werewolf flicks turning 45 this year: The Howling on August 7, Wolfen on August 14, and An American Werewolf in London on August 21.
Each screening features a “werewolf in film” presentation as well as a book signing from Where Wolf author and River Oaks Theatre artistic director Rob Saucedo.
In the new graphic novel, “Being a werewolf sucks. Reporter Larry Chaney wanted to be a hero. Instead, he became a werewolf. Now, caught between incredible new powers and a desire to eat everything (and everyone) in sight, Larry must find a cure for his curse. Or die trying.”
“With Where Wolf, I wanted to tell a whodunit set in a furry convention, so the story was pretty contained within a very specific setting and genre. With Curse of the Where Wolf, I wanted to celebrate everything I love about the possibility of comic books. Curse of the Where Wolf is a funny book, in every sense of the phrase, but it’s also an earnest look at a person’s struggle to become a better version of themselves, especially when the alternative is to become a literal monster,” Saucedo says of Curse.
The original graphic novel was previously serialized as the first webcomic hosted on Fangoria before being collected by Encyclopocalypse Publications in 2023 and has already been optioned for film, podcast, and television development ahead of launch by producers James Fino (“The Freak Brothers” for Tubi, “Rick and Morty” for Adult Swim) and Charles Horak (First Date for Magnolia Pictures).
Expect Larry to find himself in even weirder situations in the 362-page full color sequel; Saucedo has provided Bloody Disgusting with exclusive art pages from the upcoming graphic novel that showcase lupine humor.
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